MLS: Parke out vs. Chicago, but likely won't miss much time

Columbus Crew's Chaqd Marshall climbs over Philadelphia Union's Jeff Parke (31) during the second half of an MLS soccer game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, April 6, 2013. On the ground is Union's Amobi Okugo (14). The game ended in a 1-1 tie. (AP Photo/Mike Munden)

The bad news came as no surprise: That the hamstring injury sustained by central defender Jeff Parke in last week’s game against Seattle would likely keep him out of the lineup at a juncture of the season in which the Union have three games in eight days.

But the positive was that Parke’s injury wasn’t as bad as the club had originally feared, meaning the timeline for a return should be articulated in days rather than weeks.

For a Union staff preaching squad depth and lineup changes, the absence of Parke, who had played every minute in his first season with the Union before giving way just before halftime last Saturday, can be mitigated.

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“Our medical staff is working hard with him to get him back as quickly as possible, but it’s not worth one game losing him potentially for three or four and doing more damage,” Union manager John Hackworth said Wednesday at his weekly press conference. “I think we’ll be a little bit conservative, but the good news is that it’s not as bad as we thought.”

Much focus this week has turned toward wantaway defender Bakary Soumare, who may feature for the first time this season thanks to the injury to Parke and a red card shown to Sheanon Williams last week, ruling him out of the trip to Chicago. It’ll be the first of two games against the Fire in as many weekends.

Hackworth has stressed that Soumare isn’t the only one working his way into the conversation. Gabriel Farfan, who had played sparingly this season after a transition from left back to his more natural midfield position, replaced Parke against Seattle with Williams playing in the center.

Hackworth has made a habit of not naming defenders to his bench in recent weeks, choosing an attack-minded approach. But he admitted Wednesday that such a stance is likely to change, Chris Albright among those who might become a factor.

“We know we’re going to get Sheanon back, it’s only one game,” Amobi Okugo said. “With Parke’s injury, we don’t know how long he’s going to be out, so people are going to have to step up, myself included, our whole backline.”

The situation between Soumare and the club is one that easily could’ve deteriorated to the point of being unworkable. But Hackworth, as did Soumare after the Seattle game, praised both sides of the trade talks for creating an amiable situation.

“I think we’re pretty fortunate to have Baky here and in good form,” Hackworth said. “He has trained hard every single day. We don’t have a question on his fitness or anything like that. It will be an adjustment because he hasn’t played game minutes, but we have pretty strenuous training sessions and he’s working awfully hard on his own. My hope, my expectation is that he makes the most of it, and I feel pretty fortunate that we have him and I think that depth is very important to a team in this league.”

For more on the Union, visit Matthew’s blog at uniontally.blogspot.com.